Barnes & Noble posts worse-than-expected loss

New York City -- Barnes & Noble posted a worse-than-expected net loss of $6.6 million for the second quarter, compared with a net loss of $12.6 million a year ago.



Total sales for the period ended Oct. 29, 2011, slipped 0.6% to $1.89 billion from $1.90 billion in the year-earlier quarter, with the biggest drop occurring at the chain’s college stores. Online revenue grew 17% in the quarter to $206 million, which the company attributed to increases in sales of ebooks and its Nook line of e-reading devices.



A decline in physical book sales declined was offset by increases in Nook products, the company said.